Small Town Case
by Fire ArcherS
Summary: The SPR has a new case, but because of Naru's busy schedule Mai and Yasuhara go ahead of the team. What will happen when they get there and can they survive long enough to tell the tale?
1. Chapter 1

It was a normal day at the office, Mai was doodling on a piece of paper trying to put off having to file a huge stack of papers. She looked at the time and decided she might as well start making some tea. She stood from her spot and headed to the small build in kitchen in the office. Looking out the window Mai could see a couple walk in the street below her. The woman hesitated and stopped before crossing the street, the man however was trying to convince her to go. The woman refused and started to turn around when the man tried to stop her she began yelling at him. Mai smiled at at sight and got back to making the tea. She reached in the cupboard and pulled out a plate and grabbed some cookies from the shelf and placed them semi-neatly on the plate. She looked back outside and the couple was gone. Leaning on the counter she took a cookie from the plate and placed it in her mouth. It had been weeks since SPR had been called in on a big case and just as long that she saw the team together. Naru had some cases he was working on that kept him busy but it was nothing he or Lin needed help on. So the team hadn't been called. Mai was thinking about how she missed everyone when she heard the door open. Swallowing the last piece of cookie she walked to her desk. Smiling to the people that entered the office she noticed it was the couple from outside. The woman looked tense and the man worried.

"Welcome to Shibuya Psychic Research do you have a meeting?" Mai asked.

The woman spoke first: "No do we need one?"

"Well," Mai paused. "I can see if someone can meet with you now, you can sit and wait." She motioned to a couple of chairs and walked to Naru's office. Knocking on the door she waited for a reply.

"Come in." Came a voice from the other end of the door. Turning the knob Mai opened the door. Her boss the narcissist, hence the name 'Naru', was sitting at his desk flipping through some papers.

"Naru there's people here that wants to see you." She said

"Do they have an appointment?" He asked not looking up.

"Well, no but..." She was cut off.

"Than tell them to make an appointment and come back."

"But they look scared." Mai stated.

"Mai I'm busy I don't have time for a new client."

Mai stood at the door awestruck. She couldn't believe Naru had actually said that, well really she could, but she was still surprised. She took a step forward into Naru's office and straightened her arms at her side.

"Naru these people look scared and worried cant you at least talk to them?" She said determined. On the other side of the desk Naru placed his hand to his head and lowered the papers he was holding. He knew Mai wouldn't give up until he at least agreed to talk to whoever was in the other room. Rubbing his temple he sighed and agreed to see them. Mai smiled and walked to the couple as Naru went to Knock on Lin's door. A few seconds later he and Lin walked into the room and Naru addressed the two.

"I'm Kazuya Shibuya what is it that you need?" Naru said getting to the point.

The couple looked to each other then at Mai. "Is it okay if we talk about this in private?" The woman asked.

"Of course. Mai." Naru said and turned to the said girl. Looking at him she realized what he meant to say.

"I'll, um... go make some tea." She said and walked away as Naru lead the couple to his office.

Felling a little bitter that she was not part of the meeting, and with nothing else to do, Mai began to file the large pile of papers. She had two files in her hand when she decided she really wanted to know what they were talking about in the office. She set the files down and quietly walked to Naru's door. She placed her ear on the door so she could hear them talk but still she couldn't hear a thing. She placed her hands on the door and tried to push her hear in to hear better when the door opened. Mai found herself on the floor with the couple standing in front of her looking down and Lin standing holding the door. Picking herself up and dusting herself off Mai spoke.

"The tea is ready." She said and walked away.

Mai was in the kitchen hiding from Naru and the client when she heard the door open and close. She walked out of the kitchen and saw Naru and Lin standing at the doorway. Upon seeing her Naru walked to his office.

"Are you taking their case?" Mai asked.

There was a moment of silence before Naru answered her. "Yes." Is all he said before entering the room and closing the door. Mai went into the kitchen and came back not a second later holding a try with tea.

"Tea?" She said to Lin and he took a cup off the try as he walked to his own office. Mai was curious now more than ever about the details of the case. It must be something big if it could make Lin and Naru both look even more tired than they previously where. Mai went back to her desk and after a few minutes Naru's voice came from the other side of his closed door.

"Mai, tea." It said. And she realized she forgot to get his tea. Grabbing the tea from the tray in the kitchen Mai walked over and knocked on the door. She waited for a reply and when she got one she opened it and placed the tea on his desk. Mai had one hand on the doorknob ready to exit and leave when Naru stopped her.

"Wait." He said and Mai turned to face him. "I want you to call in Monk and the others. Tell them we have a new case and I need them to come in." That was all he said and so Mai exited the room and took out a book that contained the phone numbers and how to reach each person from the team. The first person she called was Masako, she said she would come in for the meeting. After hanging up Mai called in John, than Ayako, and finally Monk. They all agreed to come in and would arrive in the afternoon. With nothing else to do and no phone calls or meeting Mai again began to file papers. She had managed to finish and now had nothing else to do. She sat at her desk for the longest time until her alarm went off. She looked at the time it was her lunch break. She put her sweater on and grabbed her bag from the desk. Walking over to Naru's office she knocked and didn't even wait for a response before speaking.

"Naru I'm taking my lunch break, I'll be back."

"Be here before the meeting." He said in a calm voice and Mai walked out of the office and into the busy streets below. She had went to a small café near the office to have her lunch. All the while a felling kept to her. A sense of foreboding, as if something was wrong. She couldn't shake it though, not even when she returned to the office. She had found that Ayako and Masako where sitting on the sofa drinking tea and waiting for the others. Mai greeted them and placed the sweater and bag in the closet. Just then John walked through the door. He said 'hello' to everyone and took a seat.

"Where's Monk?" Mai asked to no one in particular. Ayako was the one to answer.

"He said he would be late."

"Than we should get started. Lets not wast time."

"Well you get to the point huh Naru?" Ayako said.

Ignoring her Naru began to inform them of the clients. "This morning a couple came in from a town nearby. The woman claims to hear strange noises at night though no one else hears them. At first the man said he didn't believe her but changed his mind after seeing indescribable things a few weeks ago during a local festival."

"Is it possible that its a poltergeist if the woman was the first to experience anything?" Ayako asked.

"Its not too likely since poltergeist typically move objects and nothing of the sort was reported." Naru informed. After a moment of silence Naru continued. "At any rate, they need someone to go check it out so they called us. Can anyone got right away?" He asked.

"I have a client today and tomorrow so I cant until the day after." Masako spoke first.

"Yeah, I have to take care of some things before I can go anywhere sorry." Ayako said and then it was John that spoke.

"I was asked to do some work with my church but as soon as I finish I can go." He said

"That's no good they need someone now and Lin and I cant do it because were busy at the moment. We just need someone to go a few days earlier."

"I don't have anything to so." Mai said cheerfully. But her smile disappeared when Naru next spoke.

"We need someone with more experience and that is not accident prone." He said and Ayako smirked while Mai gave Naru an evil glare. She then stood from her spot and went to the kitchen to make more tea. She heard the others speaking in the other room and took her time not wanting to go back in. She was thinking of a plane to get back at Naru for his comment and Ayako for smirking when the door opened.

"Sup'." Came Monk's voice and Mai walked back into the office to see. He wasn't alone. "ran into him at the store so I thought I'd bring him with." He said pointing to Osamu Yasuhara who in turn smiled and waved to everyone in the room. Mai brought them a drink when they sat down and took a seat herself just as Naru began to speak.

"Monk we have a new case. The clients live in a small town a few hours from here. They have experienced some strange things and need someone to check it out."

"Okay." He said. "but not today I have a show tonight." He finished and Naru sighed placing his hand on his head. Mai smiled at the sight of the frustrated Naru. And then Yasuhara chimed in.

"Mai and I can go. Just to get information we don't have to do anything." Naru didn't look convinced so Yasuhara added. "Just for reassurance so SPR doesn't look bad." He smiled and Naru having no other choice agreed. He told them that all they needed to do was get some more information and set up some equipment and that soon the rest of SPR would join them.

After packing the equipment in the van that would take them to the town Naru gave Mai and Yasuhara a paper with instructions on what to go. Just in case someone, namely Mai, would forget. After everything was packed, and Mai and Yasuhara had their things ready, they waved and entered the van for their hours long trip.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a few hours and still Mai and Yasuhara had not arrived in the small town. They had kept themselves entertained by playing car games. As in I spy, guessing games, and even singing. With nothing more to try they were now drawling pictures for the others to guess what the picture was.

"Okay I'm done." Mai said holding up her paper to Yasuhara. He tilted his head and stared before answering.

"Is it a monkey?" He asked.

Mai turned her paper around and stared at it. "It's a dog." She said. "It doesn't even look like a monkey." She finished confused at how Yasuhara came to the conclusion it was a monkey.

"Ahaha." He laughed. "What's this?" He asked holding up his own paper.

"A box?" Mai said confused

"Correct!" Yasuhara said smiling and Mai rolled her eyes then they both began to laugh. The car stopped and the driver informed them that hey had arrived at the destination. Getting out of the car Mai was amazed at how many people were walking around. The place was packed. There were children running through the crowded streets and adults talking in groups. Yasuhara stood beside Mai as he too looked at the many people. He looked at the paper Naru had given to them before turning to address Mai.

"I thought Naru said that not many people lived here." He said. When Mai was about to speak the driver came up behind them.

"They are all here for the festival." He said turning to unpack the equipment.

"But wasn't the festival a week ago?" Mai asked. "When Naru had his meeting he said that the incidents happened a week ago at a festival."

"Yes. I'm sure they did. This town has a tradition. Every year around this time a festival is held in honor of a worrier of federal Japan who supposedly single handily saved this town, that was once a small village, from invaders. A week after his victory the worriers wife gave birth to their one and only son. So two festivals are held within a week of each other in honor of the worrier and his son." The man finished and smiled at the confused look on Mai face. "Well it would be best to ask around. Have the local people tell you the full story. Isn't that part of your job?" He asked and finished unpacking the equipment. Yasuhara went along to help him and left Mai in the street by herself. She stood still for a while before deciding to take a look around.

There were stands for almost everything games, food, prizes, etc. Mai tried to move around the stands but found it hard on account of all the children playing around. She had made it to a quiet end of the street and sat down on a bench. She kept wondering when the rest of SPR would arrive. Although the atmosphere was happy she kept having this feeling come over her. A warning of some kind. Mai had stood up and as soon as she did she felt a feeling of depression come over her. Tears started to fall off her face as she quickly sat sown and wiped her tears. Her tears had stopped and she looked around. No one had noticed her thanks to the festival. Her eyes landed on a group of children playing near a tree. They were gathered around the tree shouting things she couldn't hear. One boy lifted up his arm and threw something at the tree. That was when she realized they were bullying a little boy with black hair.

"Hey!" She shouted running over to them. When they saw her the boys stopped and walked away. Mai walked after them but they started running so she gave up and went back to the boy by the tree. He was sitting on the ground pocking at a flower growing near the root of the tree. Mai stood, watching, for a moment before she sat down next to him. He didn't even look up to her as he continued stacking grass next to the white flower. Mai just stared at him before she asked his name.

"Kai." The boy said without looking up. Mai nodded and stood up. She dusted herself off and extended her hand to the boy. He looked at it and took it as he also got up.

"Where are your parents?" Mai asked.

"Dead." The little boy said with almost no emotion.

"I...I'm sorry." Mai said turning down to look at the boy. He was looking forward to the many people at the festival. Mai tightened her grip on the boys hand which caused him to look up at her.

"Its okay," He said. "It was an accident. They died together so they should be happy." He smiled at her. And Mai couldn't help but shed a tear. Wiping it with her free hand she took a step forward.

"Do you want to play a game?" She said and smiled at the boy. He returned the favor and followed her to a stand with pins set up. Mai took out some money from her pocket and payed for a ball to throw at the pins. She gave the ball to Kai and he missed. Mai got another and he just barely made it. It wasn't until the fourth ball that Kai hit all three pins. He choose his prize and Mai cheered for him.

"Mai." She heard her name being called and turned to see Yasuhara walking towards them.

"Did you get any information?" He asked as he neared. He knew the answer by the look on her face.

"Well while you were playing games without me I actually got some information." He said and noticed Kai for the first time.

"This is Kai," Mai said. "a local kid."

"Oh." He said and turned to the boy. "Mai has to leave but we will be here for a while so if you want to see her again you can go to the Inn okay?" Yasuhara finished and turned to walk away.

"Come on." He said to Mai, she waved at the boy, following Yasuhara back to the Inn.

+Back at Shibuya Psychic Research+

"Lin how is the paperwork coming?" Naru asked the tall Chinese man sitting at the opposite end of the table.

"It will take a while." He said and looked up. "Worried?"

"I just don't feel right sending the two on their own."

"Ayako called earlier she said she is almost finished with her family business and that she could leave in a couple days."

Naru nodded and the two continued to finish their paper work.

+Back at Naibunmura* Inn+

"Mai that doesn't go there."

"Yasuhara I've done this before." Mai said and was handed a papers with instructions on them. Apparently she'd been setting up the equipment all wrong.

"Did you do them all that way?" Yasuhara asked smiling. Mai sighed.

"I'll go fix them." She said gaining a laugh from her companion as she walked out the room to go fix the other cameras. The sun was still up but for some reason the house was very dark. The only light source that was available was a dim glow from a few candle lanterns along the hall walls. Mai was becoming nervous. She hated walking alone in the halls when the SPR had a new case. Something always happened. She shuddered remembering the Urado case.

A few minutes later Mai made it to one of the three rooms she had set the equipment up in. entering she fix it and continued to the next room. When she finished all three rooms she headed back the room that was to be used as the SPR base of operations. She tried to relax as she walked the long hall back. Giving a deep breath when the base came into view Mai was relived that she would not be alone anymore. She was now a few doors away from the room when she heard what sounded like a baby behind her. Turning around Mai was surprised to see a small baby sitting on the floor looking at her. Pausing Mai stared back at the baby it wasn't doing anything. She didn't remember Naru saying anything about a baby in the Inn. She blinked a few times making sure it was real, and not just her imagination, and for a second she thought she saw the baby smile at her and a flash of red surrounded it. Then the baby got on its hands and knees and it quickly began to crawl violently towards her.

"Yasuhara!" Mai yelled when she found she couldn't move. As quickly as she called for him Yasuhara was slamming the door open and heading towards Mai. When he entered the hall the baby disappeared and Mai collapsed to the floor. Yasuhara knelt down next to her and asked if she was okay. She didn't get a chance to answer before the couple that called them there rushed into the room.

"What happened?" The woman asked frantically.

"I...I thought I saw something." Mai said seeming out of breath.

"What did you see?" The man asked.

"It was a baby but it wasn't normal, it was almost...evil." Mai said and both her and Yasuhara saw the couple exchange a worried glance.

"Is there something you forgot to mention when you talk to Kazuya Shibuya?" Yasuhara asked becoming serious. For a moment to couple thought and finally the man spoke to his wife.

"We need to tell them." He said and his wife nodded. Both Mai ans Yasuhara exchanged a glance as the got up and followed the couple to a room to talk.

+Authors Note+

The name of the town SPR is investigating is called ***Naibunmura** and it means **"Secret Village"** its kind of dumb but I couldn't think of anything else. ^_^"

Anyways Hope you enjoyed.

Next chapter: How will Mai and Yasuhara react to the story about the towns past? *Cue Scary music*


End file.
